


The Lonely Sea and the Sky

by GoodFoolofIllyria



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, M/M, Slow Burn, Specifically set towards the end of the Golden Age of Piracy, some violence but not too much
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24426322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodFoolofIllyria/pseuds/GoodFoolofIllyria
Summary: There are many pirates throughout the ages who have made a name for themselves, but towards the end of the Golden Age of Piracy, there was one alone who was known to be far more fearsome than the rest; Ash, captain of the Lynx, the most dreaded ship of all the seas. Or so the stories go. When Eiji's ship gets attacked, and he ends up accidentally aboard the Lynx, he begins having trouble telling just how true all those stories are. The Lynx's lonely captain promises to get him to shore in order for Eiji and his crew to reunite, but as the journey goes on, it seems that there are enemies who will do anything to keep it from being a safe voyage.Part of BananaFishRBBTitle from the poem Sea Fever by John Masefield
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Comments: 43
Kudos: 78
Collections: Banana Fish Reverse Big Bang





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Daru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daru/gifts).



The first warning that Eiji received on his way to England was to beware the Lynx.

“What do you mean?” he asked his father, who merely shook his head.

“Ibe will tell you more about it if the time comes,” his father said, “But just remember, if you see a ship that raises a flag with a man with a spear, you must ensure you survive, whatever the cost may be.”

His father’s face was grave, and Eiji felt chilled to the bone as he realized he had never seen his father so serious. Eiji didn’t dare to ask anything else, but something deep inside told him that he would soon understand why this specific ship was something capable of striking fear in even his father. But that ominous thought was quickly banished as his sister rushed over to him, slapping an omamori into his hand.

“Here,” she said, eyes holding a mischievous twinkle. “For good luck.”

Eiji would look at it later, but the way she smiled suggested that it was definitely not for luck in his travels. Several steps behind his sister was his mother.

“Please be careful,” she said. If it weren’t for the sad look in her eyes, as if they had already seen her son leave, Eiji would have thought she was completely calm.

And with that, Okumura Eiji was sent off, away from his island country that he, his father before him, and his father’s father before him had known all their lives, and went off into the great ocean, a sole vessel slinking out of the harbor at night.

* * *

The ocean was truly a beautiful sight; endless deep blue waves that stretched from each end of the horizon, the creak of the wooden ship from the rocking waves almost a melody. Unfortunately, Eiji found that its beauty did not last now that six months of the same sight had passed. He had hoped that after overcoming his initial bout of seasickness, life aboard a ship would prove to be better than it initially seemed, but the longer he was stuck on this ship, the less he was convinced. There were only so many conversations you could have with the exact same group of people about the exact same unchanging circumstances before you went completely insane, and Eiji felt as though he may be close to the edge of that line. 

One of the very few interesting things to do aboard was tell stories, and the longer they had been sailing, the more outlandish they got. In the beginning, most were tales of land; funny stories about one man’s children, others were more of an excuse to tease one of the young sailors who was in love with a girl back home. But as the weeks stretched on, and it began to feel more and more as if life had always been spent on the sea that never seemed to end, the stories had begun to take place almost exclusively upon the sea; tales of vengeful ghosts, and monsters that lurked beneath the waves.

But the most popular tales were that of the Lynx. These stories were mixed in with the more fantastical, and so it became difficult to try and discern how real the tales of that ship were. But over and over again, they would repeat.

A ship that took no hostages, that could travel across the waves far faster than any merchant ship could. Its fearsome flag, which struck a sense of horror into those who saw it. And its captain, a man who was fiercely beautiful, whose crew pillaged the seas. 

But even these stories, gruesome as they often became, grew tiresome when repeated as often as they had become. As Eiji looked about at the dozens of sailors surrounding him, he couldn’t possibly imagine what it would take for someone to spend their whole life drifting from shore to shore, telling the same stories over and over again, and watching the same waves rise and fall.

“Eiji, are you listening?”

“Sorry Ibe, could you repeat what you said?” Eiji turned back to Ibe, now broken out of his musings.

“I said, we’ll soon be reaching the shores of England, so it’s very important that we don’t fail now. Once we land, you are under no circumstances to draw any excess attention to yourself. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Good,” Ibe hummed in satisfaction, “I’m sure everything will be fine, there haven’t been any issues so far, but we can’t be too careful. Once we meet up with my friend Max Glenreed in London, we’ll be able to start discussing trade deals.”

Eiji understood the importance of this decision for his family. And for Ibe to willingly risk his life as well for the sake of the Okumura family was something that Eiji was never sure they would be able to repay.

“Thank you Ibe,” he said. The man, like an Uncle to him, smiled back.

“Of course Eiji, your father has helped me so much in life, this is nothing.”

Eiji knew the story of Ibe and the Okumuras; Ibe, a struggling artist, taken in for a couple months by the Okumura family until he was financially stable again, after he had impressed them with his skills.

He ended up moving to Nagasaki, where he met his friend Max Glenreed, an English man who at the time had been working on Dutch trading ships, but still visited fairly regularly. One year, when Eiji had only been sixteen, his father’s health had been failing again. That year, Ibe stayed with the family again, for longer than his first stay had ever been, until Eiji’s father’s health had recovered. Ibe had truly been there for Eiji that year, building up his confidence and acting as a mentor. Yet another debt the Okumara family could likely never repay.

After all, confidence was something that Eiji needed now, for his family’s sake. For the last couple of years, his father had been losing control over the Mori domain. The local crops were not doing well, and with the revenue lost from the bad harvests, power was lost. An unstable ruling force would only cause trouble for the rest of the people, his father had explained, and so it was time for him to shape up as the Daimyo’s son. At whatever cost it required.

“Do remember though that you can still have fun Ei-chan,” Ibe said, seeming to notice the dark expression growing over Eiji’s face, and shaking him out of his thoughts once more. “ I’m sure Max knows plenty of fun places to visit so you can ask him when we arrive.”

Eiji would have to thank Max when he met him. The ship they were sailing had been sent by Max, along with half the current crew on board, the other half being men with sailing experience who were loyal to the Okumura family. 

Just then, a sailor raced down to where Eiji and Ibe stood at the bow of the ship. He bowed at them, as a mark of respect, then spoke . “Sirs, we are approaching another ship, it appears to be British owned. It seems we should soon arrive at a port.”

“Well that’s great to hear,” Ibe turned to Eiji, “It appears that soon this whole thing will be worked out then.”

That was when they heard the cannon fire; the violent burst of noise, followed by the sound of wood splintering and men screaming as the blast tore through a section of the British ship. 

“What was that?” Eiji cried out in shock. The sailors on the ship began to scramble to their stations.

“We’re too close, whoever is attacking that ship will think we’re part of the same fleet, is there any way we can leave?” Ibe shouted frantically at the Captain.

And at that moment they saw it. The ship that was attacking the British. It was not quite as large as the ship it was attacking, and looked in every way like a normal merchant’s ship, except on one point. High up on its mast, a blood red flag waved, baring the symbol of a man with a spear and a skull in the other.

“Shit,” Ibe said, “It’s the Lynx.”

Eiji whipped his face towards Ibe, eyes wide as saucers.

“It can’t be!”

But there was no denying that flag, the source of fear in any sailor’s heart, a flag used exclusively by the Lynx. And there was no avoiding the fact that, being in red and not black, that flag clearly symbolized one thing and one thing only; that the Lynx intended on attacking without mercy towards anyone on the ship. 

Beside Ibe and Eiji, the captain of their ship seemed torn, until he finally said, voice deep but still with an unmistakable quiver of fear, “There’s no chance that our ship can escape the Lynx. Our only chance of survival is to attack.”

One single day. A single day was all it took for months of good luck to now seem pointless. The ocean around Eiji, despite having been the same sight for the last six months, seemed to have shifted into something unfamiliar and dangerous. All around him, his sailors joined in the shouting coming from the other ship as they rushed to man the cannons, the cannons that they had thought they wouldn’t have any use for. 

‘Stay safe,’ Eiji’s mother had said, and now there was no choice but to break that promise. 

A shot rang out, and Eiji watched as it hit the Lynx, the attack seeming to go in slow motion. He could feel Ibe pull at his shirt sleeve and pull him away, but Eiji felt frozen as he watched the Lynx turn towards his ship. It felt as though it was watching him.

“Eiji, get away from the front of the ship!” Ibe cried, but it was still as though Eiji couldn’t hear him. All he could focus was on the war scene before him, which seemed somehow unmoving in its chaos. Finally, the frozen picture broke as cannon fire went off on the ship, and part of the hull of the Lynx splintered.

Ibe grabbed Eiji’s arm as the captain of the ship continued shouting orders at the crew, and at last, Eiji let himself be led by Ibe below deck, into the hold, where they had all those months ago placed all of the goods intended for trade in London.

“Listen to me Eiji,” Ibe said, hands on either side of his shoulders, “ If this ship sinks and you manage to escape by some miracle, you need to have evidence of your identity.” Ibe shuffled through a stack of papers on one of the tables, then finding a set of letters, pressed them to Eiji’s hand. “Here’s my correspondence with Max Glenreed. Any details you need about where to find him are enclosed in these pages.”

Dust rained around the two of them as the ship shook. Above deck, the sailors began to yell “We’ve been hit!”

“I understand.” Eiji said.

There was the sound of footsteps rushing about above them, and the shouting above the deck grew louder. Eiji heard a gunshot go off, adding to the cacophony of sound. 

“Looks like we’ve got to get you off this ship somehow then,” Ibe said, putting a protective hand on Eiji’s shoulder, guiding him towards the stairs that led to the deck above. 

The crew of the Lynx seemed to have boarded now, and if that was the case, then drifting off to sea would be a better chance of survival then staying and fighting. Still, if Eiji escaped, then that meant that the rest aboard this ship would likely die. All of the men who had journeyed this far to aid the Okumura’s family. Yet another debt, one certainly more impossible to repay than the many others. Their lives were Eiji’s responsibility as the leader of this expedition.

“Please Ibe, isn’t there any chance we can stop this? I couldn’t possibly just abandon everyone!”

As Eiji said this, they emerged above the deck, and he saw the battle. It was worse than the noise of it had been. Several feet away, a pirate lunged, sword slashing through the throat of one member of the crew. Eiji turned away in horror, just in time to see another man get shot through the head on the other end of the dock. Both victims were people he had known through these claustrophobic six months on the sea. He felt frozen in fear surrounded by the violence. Ibe tug on his shoulder again, and Eiji turned to look at him, hoping for some sign of what to do in his mentor’s face.

It was not Ibe.

This man had a cruel look to him, the kind that seems to age its owner, and messy blond hair. 

“Leaving so soon?” The man asked in English, his hand on Eiji’s shoulder tightening. Next to the man, another pirate held Ibe with a knife to his throat. 

“Whatever your crew wants, we’d be more than happy to hand over, as long as you let us go,” Eiji said, suddenly grateful for those years of Ibe teaching him English.

The other man laughed, and any hope that Eiji had held came shattering down. 

“I think you forget you shot first,” the man snarled, then seemed to grow interested, face contouring into sickening interest, “Besides, what’s your ship doing disguised as British owned?”

Eiji didn’t know how to respond, and glanced towards Ibe in search of answers, but the terrified look on Ibe’s face told him that he had as little an idea of what to do as Eiji had.

“You seem to be the most important one here, down in the hold and everything while everyone else’s fighting. Wealthy too,” the man continued, scanning Eiji. 

He seemed to give a moment of thought, then smiled. “I guess we can save those questions for later,” he said, then swung the barrel of the gun down on the back of Eiji’s head.

* * *

Eiji awoke to the sound of shouting. He sat up, and as he tried to reach his hand to rub his throbbing head, he found his hands were bound together. He grimaced. Blearily, he looked around, taking in the strange surroundings. Wherever he was, it certainly wasn’t the ship he had grown acquainted with over those last months. The room was large for a room aboard a ship, and was clearly located at the stern of the ship judging by the large windows. All signs pointed to it being a captain’s quarters. It seemed lacking in personal belongings, and had what seemed to be the bare minimum in terms of furniture, but the few things that were in the room were clearly of high quality. He had been placed in a chair in the corner of the room.

Then he remembered the battle. In horror, he looked around at the room and realized that the only place he could be was aboard the Lynx. And if he was here alone, as he seemed to be, then the fate of his crew, Ibe included…

“No”. He pushed that thought out of his mind. Remembering the letters, he searched his pockets. They were still there. He sighed a breath of relief. All he could do now was stay calm. That was the most important thing. He tried taking a few deep breaths, and in the attempts to clear his mind and be quiet realized that there was the faint sound of shouting coming from outside the room. The walls were thick wood, and so it was difficult to make out the words, but he tried listening. Faintly, he could make out the sound of several voices, all fairly low, and in English. It was clear they were arguing. Then, a shot rang out, followed by another, and then the sound of something hitting the water. There was more shouting, and Eiji leaned closer to the wall to try and hear the words. Suddenly, the door slammed open.

Eiji stared in shock as a beautiful young man walked into the room, blonder than the man who had knocked him out had been. His clothing was clearly high quality, richly dyed and elegantly made. A hat rested upon his head, a deep red, with a single plume. As Eiji looked at the man’s profile, he noticed an eyepatch covered his right eye. Then, the man turned to him.

_“Green”_ was the first thing Eiji thought, directly followed by “ _Oh shit”._

“Oh, you’re awake,” the man said, then glanced down at Eiji’s hands, still bound together. He held out a hand, and when Eiji complied, reaching out his arms, the man began to untie the rope. Eiji stared at him in utter confusion for a second, before shifting his expression into something harsher. The man continued in silence, before finally speaking again. “I… feel as though I have to apologize.”

Eiji was taken aback. Apologize. Why would someone kidnap him and later ask for forgiveness? Somehow this single word and its absurdity made everything that was happening that much more real. Here he was, aboard the Lynx, the infamous ship that previously he had thought of as more myth than reality, something that would never touch his life. Now, here he was, standing before some pirate who, for all intents and purposes, felt remorse for whatever actions had been taken. For killing his men? For kidnapping him? Or for some other reason? The idea that an apology could even get close to making up for the actions that had been taken against him seemed ludicrous to Eiji. Still, he remained silent. If he wanted to live, if he wanted the slight chance that he could make it to London, contact Max Glenreed, and somehow still save his family, then staying silent seemed the best option.

The young man continued, “The Lynx doesn’t take hostages. There was an oversight on my part regarding some members of this crew. We don’t plan on keeping you.”

At this moment, all Eiji could feel was anger. His men had been loyal to him, and that trust had resulted in their deaths. Whoever this man was, he would not let him simply wipe away the slaughter of his men, and the doom the destruction of his ship would bring to the rest of his family. He stood, and glared at the man, daring him to look away, “So you kill all my men and then expect me to just be fine with that?”

The young man’s eye widened in surprise, and though it was for just a second, the expression confused Eiji.

“I’m sorry for the loss of your men. You shot first, and we had an obligation to protect ourselves just as much as you,” the young man said, “However, the moment we gained an advantage, a retreat was ordered. Your ship sank, but your crew was picked up by the Navy ship we were attacking when I ordered a retreat.”

The fear that had been collecting within Eiji’s chest seemed to lift all at once. “So then?”

“Most of your men are alive, yes. Overall, there were probably only around five of your men killed.”

Men had still died. Eiji knew that, even before he had been knocked out he had witnessed the death of at least two of his crew. But for there to be such low casualties from a fight with the Lynx was a shock. He would have to live with the guilt of those five men’s deaths, but there was still hope. Eiji’s crew would head to London, where Ibe could work out a solution with Max Glenreed. The Okumuras still had a chance. And the rest of the crew still lived. 

“In any case,” the young man said, “I am sorry that you’ve ended up aboard with us, after all, how old are you? Like, fourteen or something?”

Ah. Any begrudging gratitude Eiji had begun to feel for this man immediately went away.

“Actually, for your information, the only kid here is you,” Eiji spat back, “I’m _nineteen_ , not fourteen. My best guess is that I’m probably older than you, so you should treat me with more respect.”

The young man laughed brightly, and the sound threw Eiji off. It was distinctly different from the more intense voice he had used earlier, more full of youth and joy.

“Okay gramps,” he said, as he turned to leave the room, “You’ll be safe on this ship until we can land at Port Royale to drop you off.”

“Wait,” Eiji said, and the man paused, and turned back towards him, “My name’s Eiji. What’s your’s?” he asked. It made sense to know the name of the member of the pirate crew who had been kind to him so far, especially aboard the Lynx. He would want an ally against its fearful captain, and this young man could prove exactly that.

“My name?” the young man smirked. Eiji immediately got the sense that he had failed to pick up on something. “Why, my name is Ash. This is my ship you’re on, so welcome to the Lynx, Eiji.”

Ash, the infamous pirate captain, feared from port to port, the subject of a thousand terrifying tales, then closed the door behind him, and Eiji found himself wondering how long he might last on this ship.

* * *

Far across the sea, another young man sat in his throne, sipping the wine he had taken off the hands of a merchant ship just earlier that day, awaiting another piece of scum to deliver news of any importance to his fleet. The wine in this area was not quite to his liking, nowhere near as good as that of the southern seas he used to rule, but when his brother’s orders were law in his family, so here he must be. Finally, someone did arrive, and placed a letter next to him. The young man opened it, and after skimming it smiled.

“How interesting,” he said, “It seems the Lynx has finally taken a hostage. This is worthy of investigation.”

The messenger nodded, and left. The young man smiled as he left. So something had changed about that young man he hated, that other captain, to make him take a single hostage. Yut Lung would not rest until he figured out why.


	2. Chapter 2

The days aboard the Lynx passed differently than Eiji’s months headed to England. For one, the crew aboard the Lynx treated him significantly different than his own crew had; not to say the crew of the Lynx disrespected him, no, it seemed that Ash’s word was true, and the crew steered clear of Eiji. But it was nothing like his own crew had treated him. The Lynx’s crew steered clear, but with a sort of uneasiness, as if they didn’t quite know what to make of him.

The one who seemed to stay the farthest away was the man who had knocked him out.

As an extra precaution, Ash had assigned two members of the crew to look after him, a skinny man named Bones and a large man named Kong, and since they spent the most amount of time together, Eiji decided to ask them who exactly that man was. 

Bones had looked mildly disgusted at the question, “Arthur? Trust me, you don’t want to get acquainted with Arthur.”

“Arthur’s an ass,” Kong said, looking equally disgusted, “And we’ve known him for years.”

They left it at that, and then offered to play a card game with Eiji, to which he agreed. But Eiji couldn’t get the suspicious nature of his kidnapping out of his mind. He had known that the Lynx had never taken hostages before, but those stories were always meant to imply that it was because the Lynx’s feared captain took no mercy upon those whose ships were attacked. But the way Ash had spoken made it seem as though he had intended on taking mercy on Eiji’s ship. But if this was the typical code this ship followed, then why would Arthur break the practice of not taking hostages? He must have known that Ash didn’t take hostages, but yet went against that. And he didn’t seem to have been punished for it, but someone likely had been, judging by the gunshots Eiji had heard that day he woke up.

“Eiji, you alright there, or are you just really good at bluffing?” Bones asked, waving a hand in front of Eiji’s face. Kong lightly tapped him to stop.

Eiji blinked a couple of times. Right, he had time to figure that out. “Yeah, I’m fine. Whose hand is it?”

“Mine,” Kong said, placing his cards down on the table, “And I win.” 

Bones loudly groaned in disappointment at his loss, while Eiji set up another round of Spoil Five. It was strange to him how despite being a crew of treacherous pirates, the long days at sea were spent quite similarly to the days aboard his ship; basic chores to keep the ship running still had to be performed, men still sang songs as they worked, and people still played card games. There was something hard to reconcile about the image of the terrifying crew of the Lynx he had built up, and the two men in front of him, bickering over a card game. There was something hard to reconcile about the captain of the ship as well; a man who had at least half the globe scared shitless, and yet a man younger than Eiji himself, whose manner of teasing was far more childish than the legends of him would lead you to believe.

“What kind of,” Eiji started to say, then stopped himself. There was no point in asking this question, and besides, why did he even want to know the answer? Unfortunately for him, both Kong and Bones noticed the start to his question, and stared at him expectantly. Eiji cleared his throat, and started again, “Um, well, I only met him that once, so I was just wondering, what kind of person Ash, uh, your captain is.”

At that moment, the doors to the crew’s quarters, where they were currently playing cards, opened, and a man with short brown hair that Eiji had seen a couple of times on the ship walked in.

“Bones, Kong, we’re approaching a navy vessel,” the man said, “We’re expecting there may be a fight. You’re to return to your posts, I’m to look after Eiji.”

Kong and Bones nodded, and got up from the table, leaving the room. The man watched them go, then turned to Eiji.

“So, you must be the kid we ended up with, huh,” the man scratched the back of his head, “Well, I’m the first mate around here. The name’s Alex.”

Eiji briefly wondered if “the kid” was how he was being referred to by the rest of the crew, which felt like a very much undeserved label, judging by the fact that he had definitely seen a literal child aboard the ship once or twice, but he decided that it was for the best to not bring that up.

“Yes, I’m Eiji.” The two of them stood in awkward silence for a second. Eventually, Eiji broke the silence.

“Would you like to play cards?”

“Oh, uh, alright.”

With that, they returned to the table, with the cards from the previous game still strewn about. Eiji took to shuffling the cards.

“So, won’t the crew need you out on deck if the ship gets attacked?” He asked.

Alex laughed. “Trust me, while I put up a good fight, I’m nothing compared to the captain.” Eiji dealt Alex a hand, and he scrutinized it. “To tell you the truth, if it was a fight between a whole ship and just our captain, my money would still be on our captain.”

While it was still shocking to hear such a statement, it made sense considering all Eiji had heard about the fearsome captain of the Lynx. Suddenly, the ship shook.

“Was that cannon fire?” Eiji asked. To think that he would be on a ship at battle yet again.

Alex nodded, “Don’t worry too much, it won’t go on for very long.”

* * *

Alex was right. The battle only went on for a couple of hours, all the while Alex nonchalantly played cards with Eiji, while the shouts of the crew of the Lynx and the ship they were attacking could be heard. Occasionally, the sound of cannon fire shot through the air, and Eiji jumped at the sound, still unused to it. At some point, it seemed the crew of the Lynx had boarded the other ship, most of the shouting from above growing distant. Finally, at the end of those two hours, silence returned to the Lynx. Stuck up in the crew’s quarters, Eiji could almost imagine that no battle took place, that it had all been a figment of his imagination.

The idea was broken by the opening of the door to the crew’s quarters, and a blood soaked Ash walking in.

“The fights over. If you want to come up to the deck, the men are celebrating,” Ash said, and Eiji was immediately struck by how sad Ash looked. His face was tight, at first glance appearing to just be the cold unfeeling expression of a pirate captain, but buried in his jade eye seemed to be some deep bitterness. If Alex noticed, he didn’t mention it, rising from the table and passing his captain with a congratulatory slap to the shoulder.

Eiji realized suddenly that he had been silently staring at Ash the whole time. He tried to think of something to break the silence, but couldn’t think of anything to stay. Seeing Ash this way; covered in blood, and trying so hard to hide the sadness in his face, Eiji was struck with the reminder that Ash was younger than him. This was not the face of a nightmarish pirate captain, the kind whose stories outlived his own life, whose name held as much power as a battleship. This was the face of a scared boy who had somehow become alone in the power he held over others. Words came to Eiji now.

“Thank you. If you decide to join at some point, I’d be glad to see you,” Eiji said, and left, finding himself unable to look at the expression in Ash’s face as he left.

As he walked up the stairs leading to the deck, the sounds of the shouts and hollers of the pirate crew grew closer and closer as he left behind the lonely boy still standing in the crew’s quarters. The last time Eiji had seen that kind of expression on someone’s face, it had been his own. He hoped that Ash would follow his suggestion, and join him when he felt ready to return. He then recognized the absurdity of that thought. What was he doing, feeling concerned for the most powerful pirate in the seas?

As he stepped above deck, he noticed that underneath the sounds of the pirates celebrating their victory, there was another sound, a crackling noise. Eiji turned around to its source, and that was when he saw it.

The Lynx was sailing away from a ship completely engulfed in fire. Had anyone still been alive on that ship before it was set on fire, they had long since been silenced by the flames.

“I-I thought,” Eiji said to himself, too shocked to not speak out loud, “But, I was-”

Someone put a mug of what Eiji could only assume was alcohol in his hand. He looked down to see the kid he had seen before on the ship, a sympathetic look in his face.

“The Lynx never does take any hostages,” the kid said.

Eiji was too stunned to answer. When he had been left alive on this ship, when he had been told that his crew was alive, he had assumed that the tales of the Lynx were overblown. That they never took hostages because it wasn’t honorable, that that had been why Ash seemed guilty over Eiji ending up aboard the Lynx. He had failed to realize that the legends were true. That the Lynx never took hostages because they never left anyone alive to take with them.

_ Until me _ , Eiji thought.

“I’m Skip by the way,” the kid offered up, extending a hand. Eiji took a drink from his mug, then shook Skip’s hand.

“Eiji.” 

“You’re the kid we picked up from that ship, aren’t you?” So it seemed that Eiji’s earlier suspicions were correct. Every member of this crew, including the actual child in front of him, referred to him as a kid.

“Yes,” Eiji said.

The kid whistled. “You really must not be used to this stuff quite yet, huh?”

Eiji wasn’t. If anything had been more clear to him in this strange set of circumstances that had befallen him, it was that being used to what was going on wasn’t a concept he even understood yet. These pirates operated on a code he couldn’t make sense of.

“No, not a bit,” he said, and Skip laughed.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” he said, “You won’t be stuck on this ship long enough to get used to it.”

How Eiji hoped that would be the case. He had things he needed to do if he wanted to ensure his family’s safety, and the longer he stayed on this ship the more he feared their destruction. He had no time to try and get used to any of this. 

At the same time, he couldn’t get the image of Ash’s face out of his head, how tragic the sight of him had been, as if some strange painting. The pirate captain, in return from battle, a painting lacking glory, with a melancholic air. Eiji took another drink from his mug. The air smelled of rum and fire, and the sun was just beginning to set, casting long shadows across the rest of the celebrating pirates. Over on the other end of the deck, Eiji could see Bones and Kong getting rapidly drunker, and nearby Alex talking with some of the other crew. Such relaxed celebration after violence was as equally unfamiliar to Eiji as the idea of the captain of the Lynx being anything other than the villain of stories told to entertain sailors waiting to reach land. 

“Skip,” Eiji said.

“Yes?”

“I was just wondering, but you seem very young to be part of a pirate crew. How did you end up here?”

“Same way pretty much all of us are here,” Skip said, “Captain took me in.”

Eiji realized that he had never heard how exactly the crew of the Lynx came to be. He had assumed it that most of the crew likely sought out the Lynx, wanting to work with such a fearsome and undefeated captain, or that perhaps they had formed a crew all at once, some former band of sailors turned rogue after times got tough. This seemed different.

“What do you mean?” Eiji asked. Skip screwed up his face, as if trying to think of a way to answer.

“Well, my family had just passed away, and I was all alone living on the streets. No other relatives around to take me in. Well anyways, I used to hang around the docks all the time, and one day the Lynx arrives in port. The first person off deck I ask if he has any jobs I could take. He looks at me, and then asks if I have any family. I told him no, and I think he realized that I really was alone in the world. So he said alright, I could work as a part of the crew if I wanted. And then he walked into town with me to buy me something to eat, and I hadn’t eaten all day so I was definitely grateful.”

At this point, Skip smiled, eyes full of conviction, “It turned out that that was our captain, and I’ve been aboard the Lynx ever since. The captain can definitely be an intimidating person at times, but he treats the crew well. He certainly pays much better than any other pirate captain I’ve heard of.” 

Eiji was shocked. Ash had given this boy a home. In no way a traditional one, but from the pride that Skip showed as he talked about Ash it was clear that he regarded him as a brother figure. But at the same time, the whole crew seemed deeply respectful of him. Ash had managed to gain the trust and respect of this ragtag band of men. It was an impressive accomplishment to say the least.

As the sun set in the sky, and the Lynx sailed away from the burning remains of the other ship, Eiji tried his best to be as celebratory as the rest of them. He continued to talk with Skip, and eventually Bones and Kong came over to talk as well, Bones near incoherent at this point and laughing at pretty much anything said. As they sailed into the night, members of the crew slowly began to leave the deck to return to the crew’s quarters and sleep.

Eventually, Eiji was the only one left above deck, shooing off Bones and Kong who offered to stay. In the last couple of days he hadn’t had the chance for quiet, and he wanted a moment to just breathe the night air and listen to the sound of the ocean gently rocking the ship.

Part of him wondered as well if he was waiting for Ash, to see if he would listen to his request, but he pushed that thought out of his mind, wondering where it even came from. There was no sensible reason for Ash to listen to him, and besides, why he would even worry about this stranger seemed odd to say the least.

He stayed there, and as he closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of the ocean, he tried to imagine himself back on land. Back home. Back with his family, when all of this was over.

“Didn’t think the captain’d leave you alone,” a voice said from behind Eiji. He whipped around, and with a sinking feeling in his gut realized it was Arthur.

“What do you want from me?” Eiji asked.

Arthur smirked, “I don’t want anything from you. You make it sound as if there’s anything about you that could be useful. No, you’re just an opportunity.”

Eiji wasn’t sure what to say about that. Whatever Arthur had planned for him clearly wasn’t good, and Eiji felt himself start to back away.

“Huh, is the kid scared or something?” Arthur chuckled. 

The logical part of Eiji’s brain told him that Arthur probably wouldn’t hurt him, at least, not when the captain’s orders called for his protection, and certainly not when it couldn’t be considered anything but an accident. But the emotional part of Eiji only saw the same hands that had knocked him out, and the sight of his men killed as this man mocked him. And so as this man got closer and closer, Eiji decided that there was only one option.

He slugged him across the face.

The minute his arm made contact, Eiji realized that this may not have been the best course of action. For one, it hurt like hell, and for another, Arthur looked even angrier, which was distinctly different from the mocking look he had been wearing in each of their other interactions, and which Eiji realized abruptly might have been a less dangerous mood of Arthur’s than the one he was wearing now.

“You bastard,” Arthur spat out, hand reaching for the pistol resting on his hip. Eiji screwed up his eyes, waiting for the shot to come.

Instead, a familiar voice said, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Eiji’s eyes flew open. In between Arthur and himself stood no one else but the captain of the Lynx, hand tight on the pistol Arthur held outstretched towards Eiji.

“Arthur,” Ash said, “What did I tell you last time we spoke?”

Arthur’s face was pale with fear,“I’m sorry captain, it won’t happen again.”

“It’d better not. For now, this is mine,” Ash said, taking the pistol from Arthur’s hand. Arthur ran off, back to the crew’s quarters Eiji guessed by the direction.

Ash turned back to Eiji, and Eiji noticed the look of sadness Ash had had those hours ago was replaced by a cool, collected expression like the one he wore when they first met.

“You weren’t supposed to be alone,” Ash said.

“I didn’t want to bother anyone to stay up with me. I didn’t realize this would happen.”

Ash shook his head, “You really aren’t from this kind of life.” For a second, the two of them just stood there, underneath the night sky, unable to say anything. In the dark light, the green of Ash’s eye seemed a deeper green than usual.

Eiji eventually found the words to speak, “I think you owe me an explanation of why Arthur seems to have it out for me.”

“Yes, I guess I do,” Ash said, then seemed to consider something, “Although it’d be for the best if it wasn’t somewhere where someone could hear us.”

With that, Eiji followed Ash as he led them to the captain’s cabin, that same room that Eiji had woken up in when he was taken. It was unchanged from last time he had been there, the same sparse but expensive décor. As the windows designed to allow light into the room were now useless in the night, Ash lit some of the candles in the cabin, casting it in a warm glow. Eiji sat down in the same chair he had woken up in those days ago, while Ash pulled another from behind the desk, dragging it across from Eiji’s, and sitting down.

Ash ran a hand through his hair as he appeared to gather his thoughts, and then began to speak. “I assumed that it would be best if I didn’t fully tell you of the politics of this ship, and that Arthur wouldn’t try and mess with you when I had made it very clear you weren’t to be harmed, but now I’ve seen that I misjudged the situation.

“Years ago, when I first took possession of this ship, the crew was around half this size. People have joined me over the years, but a significant number of my crew actually used to be part of another pirate crew, Arthur being their captain.”

Eiji gasped, “He must resent you for that.”

“Yes,” Ash said, “Even since his crew joined my ship, he’s tried his hardest to turn the crew against me, in order to remove me as captain and instead be voted in. His position in the crew is as our boatswain, and so he ordered the raising of our red flag when your ship and the other came in our sights.”

“Your red flag, your flag of no mercy,” Eiji said, “So you never intended on raising it?”

“No,” Ash said, shaking his head, “My crew attacks merchant ships of course, but I never order the raising of the red flag against them. That honor is reserved for ships in the navy. Your ship was clearly a merchant ship, and though the other ship was a part of the navy, I ordered the raising of the black flag, not the red, as I wanted a quicker surrender to avoid your ship getting caught in the crossfire. Arthur purposefully ordered the raising of the red flag, getting two members of the crew still loyal to him to raise it.”

“But why would Arthur do that? What would he gain from it?” Eiji asked.

Ash responded quickly, “Instability. Arthur knew that your ship and the other would panic when they see that the Lynx intends on attacking with no mercy. And while a battle with the navy is typical for us, what isn’t is attacking merchant ships without offering the chance for surrender. My position as captain continues to exist by my ability to lead us well; if I began to seem to be behaving erratically, it erodes their trust in me. And when your ship shot at us without us attacking first, it forced me to order an attack, otherwise I would seem a weak leader and lose support. Arthur took advantage of the opportunity presented to him to force me into a situation in which my choices were to attack in a way that goes against our crew's established norms, or to seem to change my mind mid battle and put my crew at risk.”

“So then kidnapping me was…”

“Another attempt to sew distrust among my men. After all, everyone knows the Lynx doesn’t keep hostages. I wasn’t even aware you were on this ship until after I managed to get our men to retreat.”

Eiji was shocked. How could it be that so many of the actions taken were out of even Ash’s control? “Surely then you can do something to make Arthur stop, or at least kick him out of your crew!”

Ash shook his head, “Many of Arthur’s former crew still hold loyalty towards him. Unless I have hard evidence of wrongdoing, it is highly unlikely that I would be able to punish him without at least being replaced as captain, and at worst having a mutiny on my hands. Arthur is a terrible captain, his lack of skill in leading is exactly why his ship had fallen on hard times to the degree that they requested to join our crew. If he were to gain power through my absence of control over this ship, it would mean certain death for my men. The most I was able to do was punish the two who worked with him.”

Eiji sat in his chair, shock washing over him. So the actions of one man were what had catapulted the events leading to the deaths of several of his men, and his kidnapping. Eiji wondered if perhaps Arthur had planned on killing Eiji earlier in such a way that Ash could lose support. Perhaps he would even make it seem as though Ash had killed him.

“Listen,” Ash said, “If you return to the crew’s quarters to sleep, it may be dangerous since it seems Arthur seems intent on causing you harm…so, um, it may be best if you sleep here. At least for tonight.”

“Ah, I see. Yes, that makes sense…” Eiji said. He glanced around the room. “But, um, isn’t there only one-

“I’ll take the chair!” Ash said, cutting him off in perhaps the first display of embarrassment Eiji had seen from him. Eiji couldn’t help but laugh, the tension from the earlier conversation diffused.

“Alright, alright,” Eiji said, then went to the bed off the side of the room. He removed his coat shoes and slipped into the bed. It was comfortable, with drapes made from cotton, and warm blankets. It hadn’t been made since the last time Ash had slept in it, which Eiji chuckled to himself at. Across the room, Ash put out the candles, returning the room to darkness, and then settled back into his chair. It couldn’t have been comfortable, but he fell quickly asleep, and Eiji wondered if that was just the way he was, or if he had only had uncomfortable places to sleep for a large portion of his life that to fall asleep in the straight backed wooden chair was an easy feat.

Eiji felt guilty for taking the bed if that was the case, and swore to himself that if he slept here the next night, he would demand to sleep in the chair.

As the ship floated through the darkness of night, Eiji fell asleep to the rocking of the waves and the gentle sound of Ash breathing.


	3. Chapter 3

As weeks passed aboard the Lynx, Eiji found himself around Ash more and more. While he still played cards with Kong and Bones, Alex and Skip sometimes joining in, Eiji found himself pulled towards Ash, as if by some gravitational force. 

And the more he was around Ash, the more he was confused at just what kind of a man he was. When ordering his men, he seemed every bit the stories told about him; strong, courageous, equally awe-inspiring as intimidating. But then he would play chess with Eiji, winning every game, but with a grin on his face as they talked while playing that was wide and warm. This was so unlike what Eiji felt could ever fit into the stories.

Ash informed Eiji that before they could land in Port Royale, they had several stops they needed to make first. He said this with a distant look in his eyes, one that Eiji noticed he got at times when their discussions got too close to his time before a pirate, but he didn’t pry.

What’s more, Eiji found himself not quite unhappy with the idea that he was going to be spending more time with Ash aboard the Lynx until he could reunite with his crew, although the thought of being happy wasting time he could be helping his family sent a jolt of guilt to his gut. But the more time he spent around Ash, the more he felt confused at the ease it gave him. There was something about Ash that made Eiji happy in a way he couldn’t quite understand, and he tried not to think about it too hard.

So he spent the days playing cards, chess, helping out on deck, and trying to squash the weird light feeling he got every time his and Ash’s eyes met, until finally, they had landed on what Ash told him was the second to last stop before they would reach Port Royale.

And so Eiji stepped off the rowboat he had accompanied Ash and a couple other members of the crew, and onto a sandy beach, the first land that he had stepped on in around seven months. He felt a bit dizzy as he walked up the beach, his body not quite yet adjusted to the loss of the constant movement of the sea.

“Where are we?” Eiji asked, turning to Ash, who already stood on the beach, staring off towards somewhere past the dunes. 

“Cape Cod. In the colonies,” Ash said, reached back into the rowboat, and picked up a sack that he had placed there when they left the Lynx, still out further offshore. “We should get going, Eiji,” he turned to the other members of the crew, “The rest of you are to stay here. One of you is to find me if anything suspicious seems to be going on.”

Eiji followed Ash as he led the way up the beach, and through the tall grasses. As they walked further up the peninsula, and the sight of their rowboat and the other members of the crew drew farther and farther away, the grasses began to thin out, and it seemed they had arrived at a path. As they followed the path, they finally seemed to reach a small town.

The town wasn’t very large, and seemed to be struggling financially, buildings in poor condition. Ash pulled his hat down farther on his head, making it more difficult to see his face, and Eiji wondered if he was known here. If he was, pulling his hat down seemed a good decision, as most of the people walking by stared at them, the two of them standing out as strangers in a town that clearly didn’t get very many new people.

Ash stopped. They were standing in front of what seemed to be a rundown tavern. Ash didn’t move for a second, and Eiji wondered if they were even at the right place before finally Ash opened the door. As they walked it, it seemed the interior of the tavern was just as rundown as the exterior. Most seats were empty, save a few people here and there, scattered at small wooden tables. There seemed to only be one person working there, a man who seemed to be around ten years older than Eiji, although his weary expression made his age hard to place. There was something else about his face that seemed extremely similar to Eiji, but he couldn’t quite place it. 

Hearing the sound of the door opening, the man turned towards him, and in that moment his expression lifted, before quickly being pulled back. The man hurried towards them, and in that moment Eiji realized what was so familiar about this man; his face was similar to Ash’s.

“Aslan!” The man whispered excitedly, reaching out to clap Ash’s shoulder, “You’ve come for a visit! And with a friend!”

“I can’t stay long,” Ash said. The man gently smiled.

“That’s alright,” he said, then gestured for them to follow, “Please, follow me to one of the backrooms, we can talk there.”

Ash and Eiji followed the man as he took them to a small back storage room, closing the door behind them to prevent anyone from listening in. The man’s smile didn’t falter for a second, and finally he turned back to the two of them.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect my brother to bring a friend with him,” the man said to Eiji, “He usually comes on these visits alone.”

Eiji was surprised to hear that, but decided that Ash likely only brought him along to ensure that Arthur wouldn’t try to cause any harm to him in his absence.

“Ah, I didn’t really know that Ash had a brother. It’s nice to meet you, my name’s Eiji.”

“Haha, that’s alright,” the man said, “I’m Griff.” The two shook hands. Griff’s hands were deeply calloused in the way the hands of the sailors on Eiji’s ship had been, which seemed odd to Eiji, considering he worked in the tavern, and not on a ship. 

Ash interrupted them. “How’s dad been?”

At this Griff waved a hand, “Oh, you know, the same. Probably drunk more often than sober, but not really causing any issues.”

“Well, that’s good at least. How have you been?”

At this, Griff’s smile faltered, although he quickly tried to replace it again with the gentle smile he had had on his face since seeing his brother.

“Don’t worry so much about your older brother,” Griff said, “It’s my job to worry about you, not the other way around.”

His tone was light in a way that reminded Eiji of all of the times he had told his younger sister the same thing. It was always an attempt to hide the truth of how he felt, and at that moment Eiji could feel the loneliness of a man stuck in a rundown tavern as he worries over his younger brother, sailing the seas, and risking death every day. If Ash were too die, how long would it take for Griff to find out? How many months would it take for the news to wash up on the shores of Cape Cod like a piece of driftwood, meaningless to everyone else but his brother?

 _No,_ Eiji thought, _It would be meaningful to me too._

Ash sighed at his brother’s response, and then handed over the bag he had carried with him.

“Here’s some money,” Ash said, “Make sure to buy some medicine with it the next time you run out.”

Griff smiled, “Of course,” he said, “Here, I can take you too out a back way so you don’t draw too much attention.”

The three of them slipped out a back entrance, and Griff led them out of the town, taking them down the least travelled paths through town, until they finally reached the end of the town, and the beginning of the path back down to the beach. This division, of land lived and of land traveled, seemed to Eiji just as wide as that between the seas and the shore. Somehow only a step away, and yet so much farther.

There they stood on the edge of that division, and then Griff leaned down and hugged Ash. Eiji thought to himself that it was as if in that moment the pirate captain of the most fearsome ship on the seas melted away, and Ash truly let himself exist not as his age, a young man not even yet fully grown. In that moment, despite the flintlock pistol at his side, covered as it was with his coat, he looked every bit the kid brother.

“Stay safe,” Griff said, and then they pulled away and the pirate captain was back, hard features like the stones on the shore, sharpened by centuries of waves. Eiji couldn’t help but wonder what must have happened to Ash to make hiding that part of himself as easy as breathing.

“You too,” Ash said, and so the three of them became two and one, Ash and Eiji walking away from the weary older brother standing at the edge of his town.

They walked down the path in silence, Ash seeming to have no words to say, and Eiji with too many. So instead they continued that way, the only noise between them the sound of the gulls in the air and the crash of the waves as they crossed the dunes and sandy beach to where the rowboat and members of the crew still waited.

They rowed back to where the Lynx waited, and the boat was pulled back up the ship, and then set sail. Ash walked to stand by the forecastle deck, Eiji following behind. There, the crew was mostly distant, the few men on deck tending to the sails or near the quarter deck.

Eiji watched as Cape Cod drew farther and farther away, until, at last, it disappeared on the horizon, and the Lynx was back on the open ocean, surrounded by the same deep blue waves as usual.

But mostly he watched Ash, who had not turned to look at the disappearing shoreline once since they had raised the anchor and set sail again. The way the setting sun silhouetted him, while the wind blew through his hair made Eiji think that he looked as if the subject of a painting. But how could a painter ever hope to capture the whole spirit of Ash? It was something that Eiji had begun to feel was far more complex than one could ever hope to understand.

Ash finally lifted the silence. “My brother used to be in the navy.”

“Oh?”

“It wasn’t his choice or anything. Growing up at the Cape, one of the few jobs available was as a fisherman. My brother and I, we grew up around the sea…”

Ash trailed off. He looked to Eiji, as if to see whether or not to continue.

“Yes?” Eiji said.

And with that, it seemed as if whatever dam Ash had inside of him that was keeping him from speaking about his childhood had opened.

“My brother,” Ash said, “He always loved the ocean. More than I ever did, he used to take me out sailing when our dad was busy running the tavern, and he would point out all of the types of fish we caught. He’d tell me the names of them, point out the differences.

“He was always like that; he noticed things in a way other people didn’t. He was the type to write poetry, and I didn’t even like poetry, but his poems; they were good. They were really good. He was the best older brother you could ask for. He didn’t just protect you, he would make the world seem like a better place than it was. But they took that from him.”

Ash had begun to cry at this point, quietly and heartbreakingly, and he scrubbed at the tears falling down his left cheek. He took a couple of breaths to even his voice, and began again.

“One day, I must have been nine or so, he told me that a merchant ship had wanted him as part of their crew. I didn’t want him to go, but it was good money, and Griff told me he’d be back before a year had even passed, just in time for my birthday. And so he left. And I waited. And he wasn’t back before a year had passed. He was gone two years, and he would have been gone more, except one day a ship arrives in the Cape, and the men from that ship are carrying in my brother, but these aren’t the same men who offered a job, these are navy men. And my brother is dying. There’s blood and pus seeping through the back of his shirt and nothing he’s saying makes any sense but the men are telling my father and I that my brother tried to desert the Navy, and he was no better than a corpse at this point so they’d decided to drop him off for burial, but I didn’t understand because my brother had never been in the navy.

“He didn’t die. He almost did, several times, but somehow, against all odds, he survived the infections he had gotten after being flogged. When he finally could speak and make sense again, he told my father and I that while sailing across the Atlantic, his ship had gotten impressed by the Navy. They needed more men for war. He wasn’t meant for war. And he wasn’t meant for the navy. The other sailors had it out for him, and so one night he tried to escape, but he was caught. And he was punished.

“After everything that happened, he never could sail again. If it were just the fact that his back never healed quite right then that would be one thing. But my brother could never stand to be on a boat again. They took that away from him. My father and I tried getting a doctor to help, so the doctor gave him something he thought could ease the pain, and calm his nerves. Opium. It worked. For a while. But eventually, the pain came back, and the fear too, and so he needed more and more, more than we could afford, and all I could think of was how my brother who had always protected me now needed me to protect him, but there was nothing I could do.”

Ash’s voice broke towards the end, and Eiji moved to be closer to him, holding out a hand. Ash took it.

“It was too much for me. I knew the anger I felt was going to overflow one day, and one day it did. It had been a year since my brother had been returned to us, and in walks this man who wants a room at the tavern. And the look on my brother’s face when he saw him made me realize; this man was on that ship. And then he starts bragging to anyone who will listen around him about how he’s the captain of a ship in the Royal Navy, and I decided that I only had one choice in this situation.”

“What did you do?” Eiji asked, but he had the feeling that he already knew how this story was going to end.

“I challenged him to a duel. I told him he had nearly killed my brother, and I wanted a chance to regain his honor. The man took one look at me, some scrawny eleven year old, and accepted, laughing the whole time…”

Ash paused, and then took a deep breath.

“I killed him. I took my father’s flintlock pistol and for whatever this reason this man humored me, and on the day of the duel I turned around and he was still laughing at me, and then he pointed his gun at me and I realized I was scared and my hand tensed up and the gun went off. His did too. Only, I lost an eye, while he lost his life,” Ash said, and tapped the eyepatch he wore on his right side. In that moment, Ash looked smaller than he had ever seemed before, standing there on the deck of his own ship, a world he had total control over, but living a life that seemed to make him feel as if anything but in control.

“I’m sorry,” Eiji said. He had never meant anything more in his life. Ash tightened the grip of his hand on Eiji’s.

They stood there for a while as the sun set, staring out to the sea in front of them that seemed to end, not as a pirate captain and the heir to a domain, but as Ash and Eiji.


	4. Chapter 4

Eiji felt himself adjusting to life aboard the Lynx. He was beginning to understand how one could stand to live on the seas, a world measured from port to port. His life had begun to take on a simple pattern.

Every morning, he would wake up, and make himself busy, playing cards with other members of the crew, and had started trying to force Ash to get out of bed at a reasonable hour after scolding him about the health effects of constantly oversleeping. At some point, trying to manage who slept in the bed and who in the chair had gotten too tiresome between him and Ash, and they had begun to share the bed. 

He ate most meals with Ash, and had even begun offering to help cook, something the cook was grateful for, and the crew even more so. While there was only so much one could do with the same basic staples, such as the eggs from the chickens on the ship, and the slowly dwindling stocks of cured meats, after Eiji began assisting the quality had become noticeably better. The food beforehand had just been that bad.

Throughout the rest of the day, he spent much of his time with Ash, although he had begun helping other members of the crew with their assignments. Arthur still lurked near often, but it seemed he had no intention of interfering if others were around. Luckily, enough of the ship held no loyalty to Arthur, so most understood and were true to their captain’s orders to keep Eiji safe.

Eiji’s favorite part of the day was the late afternoon, the time he would spend in Ash’s quarters. Some days they played games, others Ash would read, and others were spent in conversation, but out of all the time he spent on the Lynx, these hours were his favorite.

There were little things he had started to notice about Ash. The scrunch of his nose when he had read an interesting passage in one of his books, no matter how many times he had read it before. The way his eye would get a spark in it just before making a game ending move in chess. The way he laughed.

Living life aboard the Lynx in this manner could almost make him forget about the sight of that burning ship they had left behind to sink into the waters before they had reached Cape Cod. And despite the bad weather that had pushed their journey to the Caribbean islands from a little over a week to two weeks, in all other regards it had been smooth sailing, with no navy ships or others interfering.

As the second week drew to an end, and they drew upon the island, the final stopping point before they were to land on Port Royale, Eiji’s stomach began to sink. There was something to the idea of coming to the end of his journey that didn’t sit right with him. He couldn’t place it. Surely it wasn’t the loss of the ocean; Izumo too was by the sea. Not to mention that he was eager to see Ibe, his crew, and his family again. But there was an inexplicable ache in his soul at the thought of the end of all of this.

“Eiji, come on, we’re going to need help getting the supplies down, don’t think you can just slack off,” a voice called, teasing in tone. Eiji turned his head, and smiled as his eyes met Ash’s. Whatever the cause of his apprehension, he could surely figure it out later. 

“We’ll see if you’re still bullying me when I carry more than you,” Eiji shot back, poking Ash in the arm as he walked by.

Ash threw on a mock pout, “Aren’t you worried you’ll break your back in your old age?”

The two glared at each other, then burst out laughing.

* * *

With the ship safely docked in the port of the island town they were now on, the crew began to load the large crates stored in the hull off the boat. Eiji had secretly assumed that the pirate vessel would keep large amounts of gold and treasure, as was the focus point of so many stories he had heard, but it seemed that besides basic supplies, food, weapons, and these crates, there was absolutely no treasure stored aboard the ship.

“What do you even have in these,” Eiji asked, arms straining as he lowered the crate onto the pier.

“Eh, just things we trade with this town,” Bones said, then yelped as he almost slammed a crate on his fingers trying to put it down. Kong went to help him with the next crate.

“The people here don’t have much money, so we trade supplies they have trouble getting for things we need, like food, when we resupply,” Alex explained, “This place tends to be fairly receptive to pirates, so we stop by here whenever we get the chance.”

Off to the side, Skip was talking to some of the town’s kids who had come over to see what ship had landed in their port. They seemed to be captivated as he no doubt told tales of life at sea. Eiji smiled. It was good to see Skip with people his own age, something he rarely got to do, stuck aboard the Lynx.

Once all of the crates had been unloaded, Ash assigned each member of the crew to take the supplies in small groups to each home in the town. Eiji watched as Arthur and Alex were assigned together, and while it made sense from the perspective of preventing Arthur from causing too much harm, Eiji couldn’t help but feel bad for Alex.

Ash walked over to Eiji, and picked up the crate in front of them.

“Here,” he said, “Grab the other side, it’ll make it easier.”

Eiji nodded, and as he helped grab the crate, shifting its weight, he felt his hand brush up against Ash’s. He briefly remembered how he had held Ash’s hand that day they visited Cape Cod. The feeling of Ash’s hand in his, warm and calloused from years at sea. How easily their hands fit together, how  _ right _ it felt. Eiji felt his face heat up, and he promptly moved his fingers away from Ash’s, farther down on the crate. If Ash noticed, he didn’t say anything.

Ash led the way down the port. Most of the inhabitants of the town were outside their homes, watching as the pirates carried crates from house to house, although it seemed not to be motivated in fear, but rather friendliness. Every so often, one would shout out a greeting to a member of the crew. The town was clearly used to the lawlessness of pirate crews if this was the kind of welcome they received.

“So where are we going?” Eiji asked, straining his head as he tried to look over the crate.

“Just to one of the houses, we’ll be there soon,” Ash said, then laughed at Eiji, “Not quite tall enough to see over the crate, huh?”

Eiji pouted, but before he could respond, Ash stopped, then said, “We’re here.”

As they lowered the heavy crate, Eiji finally got a chance to look at the house in front of them. Just like the other homes, it wasn’t large, and looked to be in modest condition. Overall, there was nothing exceptionally noticeable about it. The door opened, and a middle aged woman stood on the other side. At the sight of Ash, her face lit up.

“Ah, our devilishly handsome pirate captain,” she exclaimed, “Please, come in, come in.”

The woman ushered them into her house, coughing slightly as she did so. Inside, the house was sparsely furnished, much of the furniture clearly handmade, but very neat and orderly in a way that suggested great attention was paid to the organization of the home.

“I was just about to make the last bit of tea I got as a gift from the last crew that visited, would you two young men like some?” The woman asked, already bustling over to her fireplace, where a kettle had been boiling. She removed it from the fire, pulled out several cups and began to pour the hot water in.

Ash and Eiji sat at the table she set out for them, and she placed the two cups in front of them, finally sitting down at the other end of the table.

“I do hope neither of you are put off by the bitterness of it,” she said, “Milk is one of the few things we have difficulty getting around her. Not enough grazing room, and any cows on the ships that visit tend to have been already killed for food before they reach our shores.”

The woman then looked at the two of them again, and seemed to grow embarrassed.

“Oh, I deeply apologize, young man, I have completely failed to introduce myself,” she said, “You can call me Mrs. Coleman. And your name is?”

“Eiji.”

“Well, nice to meet you Eiji, a friend of Ash’s is a friend of mine. Are you a new member of the crew?”

Eiji considered trying to explain that he was taken hostage by a rogue member of the crew, much to the surprise and anger of the captain, now was being taken to the nearest port that wouldn’t arrest the crew of the Lynx but could provide a safe passage to London, was still under threat of Arthur killing him to create more instability in order to stage a coup and gain control of the Lynx, and so had to be constantly with loyal members to ensure his protection, and was now becoming fairly close friends with Ash, the captain of the ship.

“Yes, I am,” he lied, and as if reading his mind Ash snickered.

“Ah, well you seem like a kind young man, so I’m glad someone like you is onboard to even out Ash, he insists on bullying me every time he visits,” she said, sticking her nose up in the air.

“Me?” Ash asked in mock affront, “I would never!”

The three of them began to laugh, but then Mrs. Coleman’s laughter began to turn into coughing. Ash rose, and went to her side. The coughing slowly turned into wheezing, and after a couple of minutes her breathing evened out.

“So it hasn’t gotten better?” Ash asked.

“Don’t worry about me,” Mrs. Coleman managed to breathe out, “The Coleman’s are a hearty bunch.”

Ash moved away from where she sat, and walked back to the entrance of the house where the crate still lay. He opened it, and pulled out a box, which, judging by the label, had raw tea in it. Ash walked back inside, and held it out to Mrs. Coleman.

“Here,” he said, “Since you said you were running low.”

Mrs. Coleman smiled, and took the box of tea from his hands, and placed it on the table.

“Thank you young man,” she said.

Ash turned back to Eiji, and not for the first time Eiji thought that the jade green of his eye really was beautiful.

“Eiji, could you help me carry the rest of the stuff in the crate inside?” he asked.

Eiji nodded, then rose from the table, following Ash back out the door. Inside of the crate was a collection of items. There was a blanket, utensils, salts, and a collection of labelled items that seemed to be medicines of some sort.

“So this is what you’ve been smuggling? Medicine?” Eiji asked.

Ash smiled in that annoying way he did, all at once teasing and soft, as endearing as infuriating.

“What did you expect Grandpa? Sure we’re criminals, but that doesn’t mean we’re always evil.”

Eiji didn’t quite know what to say to that. Any jabs he had planned to throw back seemed to die on his tongue. It was true. Ash wasn’t evil, no matter what the stories seemed to say about him. He was teasing, and a powerful leader, and hurt in ways that Eiji didn’t understand, but he wasn’t evil. He was maybe the best man that Eiji knew.

But he didn’t want to follow that train of thought, so he went back to focusing on carrying the items back into Mrs. Coleman’s house, starting a competition with Ash over who could carry more at once. At one point, as Mrs. Coleman tried to show them where to put the utensils, she stumbled, and Eiji reached out an arm for her to steady herself on. She thanked him, and asked to be helped back into the chair she had to catch her breath. Eiji obliged, and while Ash went back to carrying in things from the crate, she and Eiji began to chat away, Mrs. Coleman talking about her grandchildren, the weather, any sort of thing she could think of.

Eventually, she seemed to have her fill of conversation, Eiji thanked her for being a kind host and good conversationalist, and he turned to Ash to leave. For a brief second, he caught Ash smiling again, but this was a smile Eiji had never seen before. It was not his usual half teasing smile, but instead all kindness, his eye softly crinkled at the corners, and that same train of thought Eiji had tried to distract himself from earlier seemed to hit him full force. Eiji shifted his gaze, unable to even look at him. If he did, the fondness he felt for Ash would be impossible to hide.

“You’re good at that,” Ash said, as they walked the dirt path leading away from the woman’s home to the rest of the town.

“Good at what?” Eiji said, “Making small talk?”

“No. Helping people.”

Eiji wasn’t sure how to respond for a second. He had never thought of himself as one especially good at helping people. It had simply been a required skill in his household. “My father was sick throughout much of my childhood. I had to help the rest of my family often.”

He still couldn’t bear to look at Ash, and so couldn’t tell what expression he was making. All he knew was that he was silent.

Finally, Ash spoke, “I see. Is your family—”

“They’re back in Japan,” Eiji said. 

“I realize that I never asked. Eiji, why was your ship meant to look like a British merchant ship?”

And this had been the secret he had needed to keep since he left the shore, the thing he had vowed to tell no one, except for those few who already knew. Here they stood, in the middle of a town he never should have been in, talking to a boy he never should have met, and being asked a question he had told himself over and over he would never answer.

If word spread, his family could be killed. But Ash wouldn’t do that. Eiji glanced around, and it seemed that any of the other members of the crew and townspeople weren’t close enough to hear, but even so, he leaned in closer, speaking softly.

“I’m the heir to a domain back in my country,” Eiji said, “And we were struggling. My father’s friend had contact with a merchant back in England that he trusted, and he thought that if we were to set up secret trade deals with him, we could potentially improve the family’s finances and ability to lead.”

Ash stared at him, and Eiji remembered the way Ash felt towards the navy, and those in power who had taken away his brother from him, and for a second wondering if the expression on Ash’s face was one of hatred. 

“That’s…” Ash started to say, before Eiji started again. 

“I know, I know, that’s a lot to reveal right now, and I—”

“No,” Ash said, cutting him off, “That’s a lot for you to be responsible for. Doesn’t Japan bar reentry into the nation?”

This surprised Eiji, “Ah, well yes, if they know that I left.”

“And if it was discovered that your family was trying to do this?”

“We would likely all be executed. Part of the reason why we planned on working with the merchant we are is because he still has Dutch ties, and so if he was to start selling goods from Japan it would not arise too much suspicion.” 

Ash shook his head, “But Eiji, is this what you want to be doing?”

Eiji stared back, dumbfounded. “It doesn’t matter what I want to do. I owe it to my family.”

And then it was silent between the two of them. Ash seemed to be looking for something to say, but he said nothing, still staring straight ahead at Eiji.

“They’re waiting for me,” Eiji said, voice quiet.

“That must be nice,” Ash said, and behind his green eye Eiji could see the loneliness that churned throughout him, greater than any ocean storm, and instantly regretted his words.

“You have people waiting for you too,” he said, and Ash’s tried to smile as if to reassure Eiji, but he clearly wasn’t convinced. “I’m sure your brother waits for you, and Mrs. Coleman as well.”

Ash laughed, trying to lighten the mood, but there was no joy to the sound. “My brother wouldn’t have to wait for me if I hadn’t acted so stupidly as a kid. And Mrs. Coleman,” he said, and his gaze suddenly grew distant, “Well, this is the last time I’ll likely see her again.”

“What do you mean?” Eiji asked in shock.

“She’s dying. That cough she has, I’ve seen it before. It doesn’t go away, and there’s no real way to treat it. It isn’t contagious, so you can try and help for as long as possible, but it only takes about six months for you to die. The last time that I saw her was five months ago.”

“I’m sorry,” was all Eiji could think to say, wishing he could do more. 

“This place has been one of the few places my crew can act like normal people. Mrs. Coleman has known me as long as I have been a captain of the Lynx,” Ash said, then paused for a minute in thought, “Eiji, Japan is closed to most foreign ships, isn’t it”

“Yes,” Eiji said, unsure of what Ash was thinking. 

“So when you return, I would never be able to visit you, would I?” Ash asked, and that was a thought he had been trying not to think about.

“Not unless our country decides to open its borders, which I don’t think is likely to happen anytime soon,” Eiji admitted.

Ash turned towards him. “Then, if it does one day open, Eiji, would you wait for me?”

The expression on his face was so open, and fond, and Eiji realized that ever since they had left Cape Cod he had wanted to see that expression as many times as possible. And so the words that he felt he needed to say seemed to grow clearer.

“I would never have to wait for you,” Eiji said, “My soul is always with you.”

Eiji said this with full conviction, and the open, fond expression Ash’s face had held shifted ever so slightly to surprise, and then to something that seemed like hope. As they stood there under the blue sky and clouds, the kind painters could only dream of replicating, Ash began to open his mouth to say something. It was then that Eiji noticed the ship in the harbor.

“Ash,” he said, and pointed towards the ship that was now turning, its side facing the ports, clearly not intending on docking, “What ship is that?”

In an instant, Ash’s face regained its usual steeliness as he whipped around. He drew in a quick breath.

“It’s a warship,” he said, and that was when the screaming began.

Eiji and Ash rushed down the path to the center of the town, and Eiji immediately remembered the battle on his ship at the sight that lay before him. Men who Eiji had never seen before chased members of the town, while Ash’s crew tried to fight back. In the time they had been talking, it seemed that a ships boat had been launched, full of men onto the shore, and were now attacking everyone who came into their path.

And then came a crack. The wall to one of the houses not twenty yards from where Eiji and Ash stood blasted open from cannon fire.

“The ship is firing on us,” Eiji said, feeling almost frozen in shock.

“Get behind me,” Ash said, pushing his way in front of Eiji and drawing the cutlass by his side, “Be on guard.”

To their left, Eiji watched a member of Ash’s crew struggle cutlass to cutlass with one of the other men. A stab to the shoulder and Ash’s crew member went down.

Again came another round of the fire from the ship, and the sound was deafening, the air becoming thick and smoggy, and still the people screamed.

From the smog, Alex came running.

“Captain,” he called, barely loud enough to hear over the shouts around them, “You’re back, what’s our plan for battle?”

“Whose crew is this?” Ash said, coughing through the smoke around them.

“We’re not sure. The ship is unfamiliar, we thought it was navy at first but they aren’t flying any colors and there’d be no reason for them to attack randomly like this.”

Still the sounds of swords clashing and guns firing rang out. A man appeared at that moment, and rushed them, cutlass raised. Ash shoved Eiji farther away with one hand, and parried the attack, the force of the two swords causing the other man to lose his grip, which Ash used to then slash into the man’s shoulder. The man left out a holler of pain, but just as quickly the direction of Ash’s cutlass changed direction, a quick but deep cut diagonally across his chest.

Then sounded a bang, and the man fell down dead, Alex’s gun raised, smoke coming from the end.

“Alex, you need to get Eiji back to the ship, along with most of our men. I’ll launch the counter attack from the ground here, you need to try and draw the other ship away from the harbor and launch fire.”

Alex nodded, face stony. Eiji looked back at Ash, and the thought that he may never see him again popped into his head.

“Wait, Ash,” he said, the words thick in his throat, “What if—”

“I won’t make you wait long,” Ash said, face warm in way that made Eiji’s heart pound and he could barely tell if it was from the fear never seeing that face again or from some other emotion, before his expression shifted again to that of Ash the pirate captain, “Alex, go!”

“Yes Captain!”

Alex and Eiji ran, heading towards the docks, as Alex slashed at any of the members of other crew they passed by, and calling the names of specific men on the crew to follow them. By the time they reached the docks, around half of the crew was gathered.

The warship was still pointed towards the town, still firing at regular intervals. Alex looked over the crowd of men he had called over as they boarded the Lynx.

“Where’s Arthur?” He called out.

Bones shrugged. “I didn’t see him on my way here,” he said, “Wasn’t he with you?”

“No, we parted ways after dropping supplies off,” Alex said.

Alex then muttered something along the lines of ‘with our luck, he’s dead’. Eiji turned back to the sight below him of the town on fire. It seemed there was no end to the suffering he was to witness on this journey. He strained his eyes, both hands on the side of the ship as he leaned his body as far as it could go off the ship, trying to see if he could spot Ash anywhere in the town, but through the smoke of all the fires and the chaos of the battle below, spotting him was impossible. 

As Eiji stared at the town in flames, the sails of the Lynx were released, the ropes tying it to the dock brought back in, and they sailed away from the port. Eiji could hear Alex shouting orders at the rest of the crew, but he heard it as if it were through a wall, sounding distant as Eiji watched the town. Instead, what he could hear, were the screams of the people, swelling up and down like waves in a storm, rushing through his head.

It felt like his fault. Why this other ship had decided to set siege upon this town he didn’t have the slightest idea, but still. Perhaps they had noticed the Lynx, recognized it. Had Eiji’s ship not set sail, would the Lynx have even taken the same route? Would its crew, would Ash, be here fighting?

The Lynx rocked as the crack of cannon fire sounded, and Eiji could hear the crew celebrating a hit on the warship. This all had to be his fault, just as the death of his five soldiers had been, just as his family’s desperation was. Another hit, and still the warship wasn’t turned towards them, instead firing again and again on the town, houses crumbling to the ground as if they had waited to fall since the day they were built, almost desperately falling in upon themselves.

This was his fault, and if something happened to Ash, then that would be his fault too. And with that thought it felt as though his world crashed in on him. Not just a life without Ash in it, but a world without him, seemed almost cruel to ever be possible. Having to live day after day without even the knowledge that he was off somewhere in the world seemed unimaginable, and suddenly it seemed so clear to Eiji what exactly it was that was the source of his sadness at the upcoming end of his journey with the Lynx.

It was Ash. That was what he couldn’t bear to leave. It was never about being free, sailing across the world. It was about Ash. Eiji's life as the heir to his domain would be stationary, land locked. Ash’s life was anything but. The Lynx was a separate world from Izumo, a moving world that only joined with the rest of existence when docked in port or in battle. The oceans were wide, and its floating inhabitants lived lives that would rarely touch those confined to land.

If Eiji went back to London, he would return home, and never see Ash again. Without even a portrait to remember him by, how long would it take for Eiji to forget his face?

The warship stopped firing, and turned, and for a second Eiji wondered if it was finally going to begin firing upon the Lynx, but instead, it turned away from the town, sailing out of the harbor. Silence fell over the Lynx. This kind of behavior was highly unusual? Why would this ship simply leave? The tension in the air was palpable, everyone on guard. But yet, nothing happened. The ship continued to sail out of the harbor, leaving behind the burning town and the Lynx.

It was Alex who broke the silence, “Let’s return to port and see if we can help out the captain!”

The other men nodded, each man going to his station as the Lynx pulled back into port to the town on fire. As they descended the ship, the town was much quieter. The sound of screaming had stopped, and the only thing that could be heard was the crackling of the buildings on fire. 

Slowly, the members of the crew who had been left behind emerged, gathering at the docks and reuniting with the rest of the crew. All wore weary expressions, and it was clear that the battle had been difficult. One of them was Skip, face full of fear, and as Eiji looked at the injured townspeople who now stood huddled away from the docks, he noticed that none of the other children Skip had been talking to were in that group. And there was another thing; Ash was nowhere to be seen.

“What happened to Ash,” Eiji asked, voice breaking. The crew stared at him.

“The captain’s up by house he visits every time,” one man said. Before his sentence was even over, Eiji was already running, faster than he had run ever before, trying not to trip over the bodies and smoldering piles of rubble that now lined the streets that just hours before had been clean. He ran, and he tried not to think of the pounding in his chest that could only be fear. He ran, and at last he arrived at Mrs. Coleman’s house, which now stood mostly in ruins, the wall caved in at one point where a cannonball had blasted through. And there, in front of it, stood Ash. At the sound of Eiji approaching, he turned.

Eiji swallowed, “Is she..?”

Ash shook his head, “The cannonfire.”

And so there was now one less person in the world who cared for Ash, one person who had had a month left that had now been stolen from her. Eiji couldn’t find any words to say. Instead, he reached both arms out, and gently wrapped them around Ash. The tenseness in Ash’s body eased, and then he lifted his arms as well, returning the hug, and dropping his face to where Eiji’s neck met his shoulder. They stood there in silence, so close that Eiji could feel Ash’s heartbeat.

“I’m sorry,” Eiji said, and his voice began to crack with emotion, “And I’m so glad that you’re alright. I’m so glad you didn’t die.”

Ash didn’t respond. Finally, after a minute or so, he pulled away, and something in him had hardened again. He held the same expression he used with his crew, the same expression that he had not worn while looking at Eiji for quite some time now. 

“We should go,” he said, voice deep, “We need to get you to Port Royale before anything else happens.”

These words were spoken absolutely, as if an order he might give his crew. 

“Wait, Ash, I—” 

“This world isn’t meant for people like you.”

Ash walked away from Eiji, back turned from him, and Eiji wished now more than ever to see his expression.

“The sooner you can return to your crew, the better,” Ash said, and at that Eiji felt almost angry. But why? He wanted to return to his family, he needed to return to them if he was to help them. And of course Ash had become important to him, they had been side by side now, and of course he was the most important part of the Lynx to him, and of course he didn’t want to leave him, couldn’t imagine a day spent without even getting a glimpse of him, his smile, his laugh, and the look he got in his eye when he was truly happy. Losing Ash was what he dreaded most about leaving. And that was when it struck him all at once. 

“I love you,” he said, more to himself than to anyone else. It was the first time he had ever even thought those words, but he realized that he had been feeling that for far before now.

Ash turned, mouth open in shock and with what Eiji could only hope was happiness in his eye. 

“I love you,” Eiji said again, this time with conviction. 

Ash stared at him, seeming to be at a loss of words. And then, he closed his mouth, face returning to its coolness, and Eiji that was more heartbreaking than anything else he could have done.

“Soon you’ll be back,” Ash said, with an almost artificially even tone, “Your family is waiting for you.”

* * *

In a warship, sailing away from a ruined island town, Arthur was content with the luck he had been granted. Surely now he would be able to take control of the Lynx, and put its captain back in its place. 

“Sir, I’m glad our agreement is being honored in the way,” Arthur said, mouth wide in his typical scummy grin. Yut Lung seemed unamused.

“The information you have for us seems useful. If it proves to indeed be of use to us, then I’ll allow you to maintain a ship, and I’ll let you have the Lynx. If it doesn’t end up being of any use, well then,” Yut Lung drew his finger across his neck.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Arthur said, “Once we land in Port Royale you’ll be more than glad you listened to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading the The Lonely Sea and the Sky! This fic was part of the BananaFishRBB, and was a collaboration with artist Daru, who you can find on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/rainphones) and [Tumblr](https://rainphones.tumblr.com/). I would also like to thank [Shifa](https://twitter.com/sapphiceiji) for being so kind as to beta this fic! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and leave a comment!
> 
> A link to Daru's amazing artwork that inspired this fic can be found [here](https://rainphones.tumblr.com/post/620489759382437889/rainphones-my-2nd-year-collaborating-for-banana).


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